Matthew's generations

[Johni]

I'm hoping someone here can help me understand something about the generations list given in Matthew. Its kind of a two part question.

1. Matthew Chapter One gives a geneology of Christ. It ends by saying that all the gernerations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David to the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations and from the captivity in Babylon to Christ are fourteen generations. If you go back to the OT and actually count the people involved it is actually more like seventeen names given from David to the carrying away into Babylon. Three of the kings are left out of the Matthew account. Is there any known explanation for this? I had heard that two of the kings were actually brothers (not father-son) so that made them the same generation. But that does not appear to me to actually eplain the 3 missing names. Plus even if one set are brothers it does not account for all three missing names.

I am coming at this question from the standpoint of belief that the Bible is inspired and where it is translated accurately we can have complete confidence in what it says. Plus I know that Matthew was about the first gospel written and if the geneology given had been different from what Jewish people of that day knew to be true, then Matthew would have been challenged by the Jewish scholars of that day.

2.My other question on the geneology has to do with both the Matthew list and the geneology in Luke. I had always been told that the Luke geneology is tracing the line of Christ through Mary's ancestors. The Kingly descent is through Joseph (to fulfill the legalities) but the actual line is through Mary thus by-passing Solomon and his offspring. I recently heard a Messianic Jewish man saying that the Matthew geneology is actually Mary's line. That her father was also named Joseph and if you count from the captivity in Babylon down to this particular Joseph and add Jesus after that you have your fourteenth generation. Which is true if you count them out. In fact this is what got me looking at the generations and going back to the OT to actually count them out and then finding that there are more than fourteen from David to the carrying away to Babylon.

To conclude, I'm hoping someone has heard or read of an explanation for the missing names in the past and will share that with me. also wondering if anyone else had heard that the Matthew geneology is actually Mary's and what they think of that??

Thanks for any responses!

[Guest LadyC]

luke's account of the genealogy is through the maternal line of ancestry... luke was a physician, and mary was the only biological parent. it stands to reason that he would not be tracing the paternal line.

matthew was.... what was matthew, a tax collector or something like that? in any case, he dealth with the legal aspect, not the biological aspect. Joseph may not have been the biological parent, but he was the LEGAL father, and thus the inheritance to the thrown would have to come from that side of the family. matthew would have no need to consider the maternal line.

[Johni]

Thanks Lady C, I also had always heard that Luke's geneology was that of Mary. Just wondering if anyone else had heard of the other thought on that.

I guess what I'm wondering about the descendants of David who are not listed. Leaving them out does make for 14 generations but adding them (as the OT lists do) its more than 14 generations. So are several sets of them brothers instead of father-son?? And Matthew does not count Athalia (the evil Queen who took over for about six years) probably because the rightful king was alive but just in hiding (the boy king Joash (Jehoash).

This is the list given in Matthew compared with the lists given in II Chron chapeter 3 and also mentioned in IIKings 10 and other passages in the OT.

Matthew: ------------------- OT

Solomon -------- -- Solomon

Rehoboam -------- -- Rehoboam

Abijah ----------- Abijah

Asa -------- -- Asa

Jehoshaphat ---------- Jehoshaphat

Joram (Jehoram) -------- -- Jehoram

-- --- - --------- Ahaziah

------ ---------- Joash

------ ----------- Amaziah

Azariah (Uzziah) ----------- Azariah (Uzziah)

Jotham ----------- Jotham

Ahaz ----------- Ahaz

Hezekiah ----------- Hezekiah

Manasseh ----------- Manasseh

Amon ----------- Amon

Josiah ----------- Josiah

------- ----------- Jehoahaz (king for 3 months--brother of Jeconiah??)

Jeconiah ---------- Jehoiachim (Jeconiah??)

Anyone know why Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah are not mentioned in Matthew ? I guess it seem trivial but since Matthew made a point of saying that there are 3 sets of 14 generations I am trying to figure out the significance and why the 3 particular kings are left out. I had also heard that Joash was the brother of Ahaziah so that means 16 generations instead of 17 BUT its still more than the 14 generations that Matthew gives.

(I was trying to line up the Matthew names across from the OT names but the site will not let me do it very well)

Edited April 27, 2007 by Johni

[Johni]

I am a bit disappointed that no one has responded about the 3 missing names. If the Matthew passage makes a point of saying there are 14 generations from David to the carrying away to Babylon and yet the OT shows 17 I believe there must be some reason and was hoping some one who had an understanding of Hebrew roots and background would have the answer to this. I do think there IS a reason but I don't know what it is and was hoping someone here would know.

[EricH]

Herer is a site that discusses the issues of the various generations

http://www.olive-tree.net/comingglory/Bibl...rations%201.htm